Steering wheel cover



NOV. 25, 1952 GOLDSTINE 2,618,987

STEERING WHEEL COVER Filed Feb. 17, 1950 Patented Nov. 25, 1952 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE,

4 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in steering wheel covers for use onsteering wheels of automobiles and other vehicles.

Various types of steering wheel covers have heretofore been suggestedamong which have been those made entirely of rubber, those made ofloosely woven cloth having a layer of rubber on the inner surfacethereof, and, more recently, those comprising an endless band of layersof a plastic material sewed together by stitching extendin diagonallyacross the band in both directions. Each of the types heretofore knownhas a number of objections with which those versed in the art arefamiliar and which, therefore, require no elaboration. Thus, forexample, in the last-mentioned type, when the band is stretched to placeit in position on the steering Wheel and after it has been in use foronly a relatively short time, the diagonal stitching tears and theuseful life of such a cover is, therefore, very limited.

In accordance with my invention, a new and highly useful automobilesteering wheel cover has been evolved which possesses a number of markedadvantages over those heretofore known. Steering wheel covers madepursuant to my invention are characterized by great sturdiness, bysimplicity in manufacture, they are easily applied to the steeringwheel, and they possess the added advantage of bein highly ornamental.

The nature of my present invention will best be understood inconjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawingwherein,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional steering wheel with thecover of my invention shown in place thereon;

Fig. 2 is a partial perspective view, in enlarged form, showing themanner in which the cover is positioned on the steering wheel;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a preferred form of the cover of myinvention;

Fig. 4 is a plan view, in enlarged form, of one flat surface of thecover;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal edge and partial perspective view in enlargedor exaggerated form for illustration purposes showing the arrangement ofthe puckered or pleated surface;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to that of Fig. 5 but in which the band isstretched longitudinally as when it is placed in position on thesteering wheel;

Fig. 7 is a schematic view showing one way in which the puckered 0rpleated surface on the band II may be formed.

As shown in the drawings, the steering wheel cover, denoted generally bythe numeral I0, is

made from two bands, II and I2, which, for con venience, may be referredto as inner and outer bands, respectively. The bands are made from anelastic synthetic thermoplastic material in film or sheet form, forexample, polyvinyl alcohol, polyamides, rubber hydrochloride,polyvinylidene chloride-acrylonitrile, vinyl chloride-acetate c0-polymers, polyvinylidene chloride, polyvinyl chloride, or the like.While varying film thicknesses may be utilized, good results areobtained with films having a thickness of 0.003 to 0.008 inch.

The band I2 may have a flat, unornamented surface. The band I I,however, is so constructed that, in the finished cover, it will have apuckered or pleated exposed outer surface. The bands II and I2 areheat-sealed to each other and, therefore, provide a unitary band of veryhigh strength characteristics. The free ends of the heat-sealedlaminated strip comprising the bands II and I2 are brought together,turned inwardly, and covered with a narrow strip I3 of a syntheticplastic. The strip I3 may be heat sealed or stitched, as shown at I4,whereby the endless band is formed. Encompassing the longitudinal edgesof the bands II and I2 are longitudinal narrow edge binding strips IBand I! which are advantageously made of a synthetic plastic havingelastic or stretch characteristics. The binding strips I6 and I! may bemade from a thermoplastic material and may be heat-sealed around thelongitudinal edges of the laminated bands I I and I2. In the drawings,however, I have shown said bands I6 and I! as being sewed or stitchedinto position. The stitching I8 should be selected to have good strengthand somewhat elastic properties.

The manner of forming the puckered or pleated surface of the band II andthe bonding or laminating of the bands II and I2 form no part of mypresent invention. These operations may be carried out in a number ofways. One convenient procedure, illustrated schematically in Fig. 7, isto provide a heated cylindrical drum havin a series of spaced annulargrooves 2| in the surface thereof within which piano type wires 22 aredisposed so that tension can be exerted on the wires. A sheet of plasticmaterial 23 is fed, in continuous manner from a roll (not shown), at Abetween the drum 20 and the wires 22. The drum 20 and the wires 22travel in the same direction, as indicated by the arrows, but the Wires22 travel at a greater rate of speed than the speed of rotation of thedrum 20. This results in causing the sheet of plastic material 23 topucker or pleat, the puckers or pleats running in a direction transverseto the length of the sheet. When the sheet 3 23 passes out at B, it isbacked with crepe paper which assists in maintaining the puckers orpleats until the sheet cools whereupon the puckers or pleats are firmlyset.

The puckered or pleated sheet is then bonded to or laminated withanother, preferably flat, sheet of thermoplastic synthetic elasticplastic in any desired manner. Again, this may be done conveniently bythe same arrangement shown in Fig. '7. In this case, the two sheets tobe laminated are fed between the heated drum and the spaced wires butthe drums and the wires are driven at the same rate of speed. The heatsealing takes place at the areas where the wires touch the plastic. Inother words, the sealing is along the narrow longitudinal lines 25, asshown in Fig. 4. The laminated sheets may then be cut into strips of thedesired length and width which, in the usual case, will be about 22%inches in length and 2 inches in width.

As best shown in Figs. 5 and 6, it will be observed that the puckers orpleats comprise generally randomly arranged spaced raised portions 26,having walls 21 somewhat inwardly extending in the direction of the band12, the bonding between the bands H and I2 occurring through the mediumof the narrow webs 28 caused by the indentations of the wires along thelongitudinal lines 25. The raised portions 26, the walls 27, and the awebs 28 define non-uniform air pockets. When the cover is stretched toplace it on the steering wheel, the effect is to extend the walls 21, asindicated in Fig. 6, so that said walls are straightened out or so thatthey diverge away from, instead of towards, each other in the directionof the band 12. The high degree of stretch and the differential stretchserve to cause the band to hug the steering wheel closely so that thereis no slippage thereon.

It will be seen, therefore, that I have devised a sturdy automobilesteering wheel cover having a number of marked advantages over thoseheretofore known. While, for example, the band I2 is desirably flat, ittends to acquire a crinkly appearance by reason of the manner ofmanufacture of the band. This crinkly appearance adds to the ornamentalappearance of thecover although I predicate no invention thereon. Thecover may be placed on the steering wheel with either the band H or theband I2 on the outside, as desired, and the bands I l and I2 may be madeof the same or different colors to obtain various pleasing ornamentaleffects. In certain cases, instead of using a fiat or unornamented band12 in combination with the band I l, I may bond two bands together, eachof which has the puckered or pleated construction described in relationto band H.

While I have described my invention in detail, the scope of theinvention is not to be limited to the exact details disclosed since theinvention may take various forms within the scope of the appended claimsin the light of the guiding teachings set forth herein.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. An endless steering wheel cover comprising inner and outer bands ofelastic synthetic thermoplastic material heat sealed to each other alonglongitudinally spaced narrow areas, at least one of said bands beingprovided on its exposed surface with generally randomly arranged spacedraised portions which serve to impart a puckered or pleated appearanceto said last-mentioned surface.

2. An endless steering wheel cover comprising inner and outer bands ofelastic synthetic thermoplastic material heat sealed to each other alonglongitudinally spaced narrow areas, at least one of said bands beingprovided on its exposed surface with generally randomly arranged spacedraised portions which serve to impart a puckered or pleated appearanceto said last-mentioned surface, and longitudinal narrow edge bindingstrips of said elastic synthetic thermoplastic material encompassing thelongitudinal edges of said bands.

3. An endless steering wheel cover comprising inner and outer bands ofelastic synthetic thermoplastic material heat sealed to each other alonglongitudinally spaced narrow areas, one of said bands having asubstantially flat exposed surface and the other of said bands beingprovided on its exposed surface with generally randomly arranged spacedraised portions which serve to impart a puckered or pleated appearanceto said last-mentioned surface, and longitudinal narrow edge bindingstrips of said elastic synthetic thermoplastic material encompassing thelongitudinal edges of said bands.

4. An endless steering wheel cover comprising inner and outer bands ofelastic synthetic thermoplastic material heat sealed to each other alonglongitudinally spaced narrow areas, one of said bands having asubstantially flat exposed surface and the other of said bands beingprovided on its exposed surface with generally randomly arranged spacedraised portions which serve to impart a puckered or pleated appearanceto said last-mentioned surface, and longitudinal narrow edge bindingstrips of said elastic synthetic thermoplastic material encompassing thelongitudinal edges of said bands and sewed thereto by longitudinallydisposed stitching having elastic characteristics.

LEE M. GOLDSTINE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2, 76,019 Cohoe Oct. 10, 19392,299,988 Irving Oct. 27, 1942 2,440,039 Brown Apr. 20, 1948 2,491,803De I-Ieras et al Dec. 20, 1949

